Cache box at major road intersections

imported
#1

My wife and I are going to be taking off Northbound in 3 weeks and I’m trying to figure out my options for resupplying. Does anyone ever leave a cache near a road intersection? I’m looking at possibly hanging (bear bag style) or burying two food caches (one at the I-10 intersection in section 7 and one at the Catalina highway intersection in section 10). I know my alternate options of hitching into town and picking up a drop box at the P.O. or purchasing our food in town, but I like the thought of keeping on the trail.

Brady Fulton

#2

What about walking down Cienega Creek into Vail for a PO resupply? You could then walk the road back toward Colossal Cave for a bit of a shortcut.

I personally wouldn’t attempt a cache at the Catalina highway crossing or anywhere in that vicinity - too many people and too many human-adapted critters.

Some folks (not many) cache food as a matter of personal style, often for the feeling of independence from towns, as you describe. The thought of digging or hanging, packing in, packing out, driving to and fro, and the lingering doubts as to whether a cache had been compromised in some way, makes me comparatively gleeful to hand over large sums to the postal service instead.

blisterfree

#3

Last year I cached food near the point where the trail crossed the old Sonarian highway (not the regular used hwy) before you get to I-10. I stached the resupply in some palo verde trees way off the trail and had no problem. The hwy from Vale to Colossial Cave would not be fun to walk since it gets a lot of traffic during the day but Vale does have a great burrito shop.

There are bear boxes at the campground near the Catalina hwy. The campground host, last year, let me stash my stuff in a campspot box that got very little use but he didn’t guarantee anything and I lucked out and the stuff was still there when I got there. I went through during an off time of year and my guess is that they generally don’t like doing it.

Westbrook

#4

Properly hidden and protected from critters, I don’t think a food cache is a bad idea. I would bury rather than hang your cache, and put it away from the trail. For your cache at the Catalina Highway, you could use a container for your cache and dispose of it right at the Molino CG.

Sirena